Ceiling fans have become increasingly popular for use in homes as well as businesses such as restaurants and offices. Electrical boxes are often used as the only means of supporting fans or light fixtures to a structural member in a ceiling or a wall. Generally, electrical boxes are designed for supporting light fixtures only, but are used for both light fixtures and fans. However, due to the vibratory loads generated by ceiling fans, boxes not specifically designed for supporting fans often fail structually when fans have been attached thereto.
Accordingly, electrical boxes must be designed to securely support fans and comply with the pertinent requirements of Underwriters Laboratories. Although boxes that securely support fans exist, often they are somewhat complicated to attach to the structural member in the ceiling or wall and require very specific hardware.
Examples of some prior electrical boxes are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,880,128 and 4,892,211 to Jorgensen; 5,594,207 to Fabian et al.; and 5,857,581 to Jorgensen.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an electrical box that securely supports a ceiling fan and that is easy to mount to building structure. Additionally, there exists a need for an electrical box that enables easy attachment of the light fixture or fan to the box. This invention addresses these needs of the prior art as well as other needs and problems that will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.